Surprise
by Newstar
Summary: Things are easier said than done, and much easier imagined. When Rachel finds herself in an imagined place wil she put-up or shut up?
1. Prologue

Surprise  
  
Rachel had always been happy with her life. She didn't have the desire for an insane adventure or any craziness therefore involved with one. Her everyday life was excitement enough. So she wasn't ready to deal with the following events when they changed her life.  
  
Rachel was 25, single, and had a good job (after spending 7 years in college she should!). She still lived paycheck to paycheck because of student loan payments, rent, etc. and the occasional splurge that she just couldn't help on CD's and living irresponsibly. She was quite independent in her thinking and doing which probably made her a less than desirable employee because she often butted heads with her boss. They needed her at work and she did a good job even if it wasn't done the way everyone was required to do it. But it was often mentioned by her co-workers, whom she honestly cared for and were her friends, that she was so 'feisty' because she wasn't married and had no stability in her life. She felt very stable however, and the freedom to go wherever and do whatever she wanted with no one to gainsay her, allowed her to enjoy life. She truly was happy. Yes, romance would have been nice and having someone to share the things she discovered and saw would have been nice. But she had friends in a lot of places and most were only a phone call away. It wasn't the same as them being there but it was what she had.  
  
Years of being single had made her self reliant. She did what she could by herself and if she couldn't she would find a way to do it anyhow. She never took a self defense class but figured that if a situation arose she could manage. It was a poor case of denial. For while naïve at times she wasn't a complete idiot and deep down knew that if it came down to muscles between her and an attacker she would surely be the loser. But her naïveté allowed her to walk alone at night, live alone and manage just fine. The fact that she had two big dogs of course, probably kept her fairly safe! But every so often the desire to be protected and safe would well up, like when waking from a nightmare and you're too afraid to breathe because between that moment of sleep and wake the nightmare might be real. But if you hold very still the nightmare will go away. In those moments, it would cause Rachel to wish for someone to tell her everything would be okay, hold her, and stay with her until she fell back asleep. It would also be nice to have someone else mow the lawn, change the oil in her truck, fix the sink, defrost frozen pipes and hang Christmas lights!  
  
So when one night, during a particularly magnificent thunder storm, her french doors blew open and the dogs started barking she tried to pretend it was her imagination. A voice like whispered silk caressed her cheek, and suddenly the dogs were quiet. Now Rachel might be afraid for herself but if it came to protecting the ones she loved the maternal instinct in her came out in force. She grabbed her pistol from under the bed (see, not a complete idiot) and came up yelling with the gun pointed towards the drapes.  
  
"Get the hell out of my house right now while you can still walk!" The dogs came barreling over to the bed and hid beside the edge. They weren't even growling but cowered. "Some guard critters you are." She muttered fondly.  
  
"So, Rachel, are you coming?" An amused voice drifted over to her. The panic that arose was overwhelming, for the fact the attacker new her name was too intimate and made the fear much more real. "Get out of my house or I will shoot you!" she quavered, pulling the hammer back on the pistol. "How can you shoot, what you cannot see." The voice came from her left and she whirled in the bed to point the gun toward the voice but no one was there. The drapes continued to flutter in the breeze as the rain began to puddle on her hardwood floor. She tried to listen for the attacker's breathing to gauge his location. Oh it was definitely a him; no woman could have a voice of smooth velvet that sensually promised darker secrets of pain or pleasure. Unfortunately the pounding of her heart in response to the adrenaline rush was too loud in her ears. The vulnerability was unbearable as she sat in the middle of her bed in sleeveless cotton pajamas. There is something about being nearly naked that does not make one feel safe at all. The breeze caressed her brown hair as to reassure her, that she didn't have to be so afraid and to stand-down her defense.  
  
A flash of lightening gave her the chance she needed though. It highlighted a human shaped figure lounging on her settee and she fired the gun. 


	2. Explainations

Sorry, forgot to disclaim! I own nothing, not the labyrinth or Jareth or any associated characters! I just rent or am making payments on things!  
  
Chapter 2  
  
So how did Rachel come to be visited by the Goblin King on a stormy night? Well it so happened that in undergrad she had met and became good friends with Sarah Williams. She had accidentally surprised Sarah talking to one of her labyrinthine friends one night when coming to drag her to a party. No screams were voiced but a good deal of fish faces were made as words were struggled to be said. Thus the story came out in bits and pieces over the two years they spent together. It was probably the largest reason for Rachel to find happiness in where she was for the most part.  
  
Rachel Polson was a medical technician. Which means that yes, you do get to care for people which is very fulfilling, but as any medical profession means a lot of late-nights being woken up for emergencies when one is 'on- call', dealing with strung-out emotions of people and many other nuances that make up that particular job. This contributed to enough excitement in daily life that she usually wasn't looking for more when she finally made it home at night.  
  
So when she fired her gun at a shadowy figure on her couch the last person she expected to hit was the Goblin King. Especially because she wasn't a very good shot.  
  
"OW!" The figured cried. "Why the hell did you shoot me?!" He bellowed. With the wave of his hand the lights came on to reveal a very confused looking woman with a pistol and a tall, blond man stamping around and swearing. "Well what did you expect creeping into a person's house in the middle of the night? You're lucky I didn't kill you!" She yelled back.  
  
"It would take more than that little gun to finish me." He smirked. The initial fear of the unknown had dissipated a bit for Rachel, especially because she now had a pretty good idea who the person was ranting about being shot.  
  
"Here, let me see where you're hurt." She got out from under her many quilts that her mother had made for her and walked over to see what the Goblin King was still swearing about.  
  
"Shouldn't you be afraid of what I might do to you, I am an intruder in your home." He growled at her.  
  
"No burglar or murder would whine so loudly about being shot and they probably couldn't turn on the lights with a wave of their hand. Now let me see your arm." She bluntly stated. She grabbed at his flailing wrist to inspect the wound, and amazingly enough he didn't fuss, too much. "Ow! Quit touching me, and I am NOT whining!" He was starting to get a little pissed. "The bullet only grazed you, you probably won't even have a scar either." She let him have his gloved hand back, finally getting a good look at him. And was it a look. She knew then that Sarah's description of him didn't do him justice. His blond hair was wild looking and seemed to have a life of its own. He was dressed in black leather boots and snug black breeches (Sarah never mentioned how snug!) with a black leather jacket over a renaissance style ivory shirt. Tall, blonde and handsome, yummy. She thought suddenly being made aware of her state of undress in her blue cotton chemise that she had worn to bed.  
  
"Ummm, yeah so, uhhh.. I'll grab some bandage stuff.." She mumbled as she backed towards the bathroom. The dogs followed her into it and proceeded to cower by the tub. She quickly grabbed supplies kept in a drawer for such emergencies that should arise. Especially since she had do a lot of unconventional things herself and was quite accident prone which led to bandaging herself quite often. A quick glance told her that she couldn't find her robe or any clothes for that matter that she could put on. Great, the one time I clean my bathroom and pick up my clothes.. She left the bathroom and came upon the Goblin King looking at the pictures on her wall.  
  
"Here, let me see your arm." She asked as she approached him trying not to blush. He presented his forearm without a word and she pulled back the sleeve to view the 'little' scratch. Her hands steadied as they begun a familiar task and the wound was bandaged in blink. She paused to look at his hand and let him have his arm back. Very nice hands.  
  
"If you don't want bloodstains on your shirt you should probably go home and have it cleaned." No doubt that a guy that well dressed would get upset about blood stains on his shirt.  
  
"No." He stated. "We have some business to discuss."  
  
"Well, the come back during regular business hours." She quipped. He frowned at her comment but shook his head and continued on.  
  
"As I can see you have an idea who I am, I also have an idea who you are. Through a mutual acquaintance of ours, Sarah Williams."  
  
"Has something happened to Sarah?" Concern for her friend was evident in her voice as was a thread of steel as her protective instincts began to resurface.  
  
"Now back on down there, I haven't done anything to Sarah, " he said. "But she did tell me that you knew about the labyrinth and so I decided to come and find you."  
  
"Why?" The eternal question, she so non-eloquently stated. "Why the cloak and dagger routine, and why scare the shit out of me for no good reason!" She was getting pissed now and the fear was starting to fade.  
  
"I always love to put on a good show." He sneered, blond hair cascading over his face as he shook his head. "And you were such an easy target." "Get out of my house," She seethed. No one enjoyed being the butt of someone else's joke. "I'll call Sarah as soon as it is a decent hour to do so."  
  
"She isn't at her home, so it will not do any good." He declared. "Someone wished her away to the goblins." 


End file.
